Italian court rules Netflix price hikes illegal, Netflix responds
An Italian court has officially ruled that the price hikes made by streaming platform Netflix in that country are not legal, and that the customers should be entitled to a refund.
As per Variety, a Rome court sided with a cosumer advocacy group who claimed that rules were broken by the huge conglomerate after prices added to the service between 2017 and 2024.
This news comes just over two weeks following an announcement made by the streamer, who revealed that it would be raising prices in the USA for the second time in just over a year.
Netflix have responded, promising to appeal the decision made on April 1st that has no immediate impact on its service.
According to Italy’s Movimento Consumatori consumer advocacy group, the Rome court had agreed with their rebuttal to service as the country breached national consumer code.
In other words, that code states that price changes cannot be made unilaterally without stating a valid reason in advance.
Further, Italy’s consumer protection laws place a limit on the discretionary power companies have to raise prices to ensure it is fair.
What will this look like for users in Italy? The court ruling suggested that current subscribers are entitled to a reduction in the price they pay, as well as a refund for unduly paid subscription costs.
The court has clarified that Netflix has 90 days to comply with the ruling. Should the organisation fail to, it risks a penalty of €700 (approximately £610) for each day of delay.
As a helpful aid, legal representatives for the consumer group laid out what subscribers were entitled to: “For the Premium Plan, the unlawful increases applied in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024 amount to €8 (£6.97) a month, while for the Standard Plan the total is €4 (£3.48) a month.”
The lawyers, Paolo Fiorio and Riccardo Pinna, also added, “A Premium subscriber who has paid for Netflix continuously from 2017 to the present day is entitled to a refund of about €500 (£436), while a standard subscriber is due a refund of about €250 (£218).”
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